Lisa Madigan, husband expecting second child

Monday

Attorney General Lisa Madigan and her husband, Pat Byrnes, are expecting the arrival of their second child in March, Madigan’s office announced Monday.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan and her husband, Pat Byrnes, are expecting the arrival of their second child in March, Madigan’s office announced Monday.

Their daughter, Rebecca, was born in January 2005.

“Pat and I feel very blessed and are looking forward to expanding our family,” Madigan said in a news release.

Madigan, 41, and Byrnes, 48, married in 2003. The family lives in Chicago.

Madigan said she plans to take a short maternity leave after the baby is born, just as she did after Rebecca’s birth. Then she will resume day-to-day duties at her office. Madigan said that she would be in daily contact with her staff while she is away.

Madigan, whose parents are House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, and Illinois Arts Council chairwoman Shirley Madigan, was elected to a second four-year term as attorney general in 2006. She also is a former state senator.

Byrnes is a professional cartoonist whose work appears in The New Yorker and other publications.

“We are very lucky that Pat’s flexible hours and home office allow him to be significantly involved in caring for our children as I continue fulfilling my duties as attorney general,” Madigan said.

In recent years, two other statewide constitutional officers in Illinois also have become parents.

Annie Blagojevich was born to Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his wife, Patti, in April 2003, less than three months after her father was sworn in for his first term as governor. The Blagojeviches also have an older daughter, Amy.

Comptroller Dan Hynes and his wife, Christina, welcomed their first son, Charlie, in May 2005. The couple’s twin boys, Liam and Finn, were born in September 2006.

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